Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own
by kkkkristen
Summary: Anne left her home of Ireland to go to America to meet her father. Once she gets there she will learn that things don't always go accordingly to planned and that people aren't always who they seem to be. Sometimes they can surprise you.
1. Prolouge

Prologue 

"Mother, No I am not going to leave you and Patrick behind! We all agreed that when father sent over enough money that we would go to America together!" Anne argued but it was obvious that her objections were useless.

"Nonsense Anne, You must go now. If you marry that pig we will never see you again. Then we will never all be together in America." Anne's mother shook her head, as stubborn as anything. Anne's patience she had inherited from her father. Her dear father.

Anne clenched her jaw at the mention of her pig headed betrothed. It was the fault of their stupid landlord that she was in this predicament. He had threatened to tumble their small cottage if she did not marry his son, the slow and stupid Boyd. As much as she loathed the idea, she had agreed to it for her mother and brother's sake.

"But mother, if I leave for America what is going to happen to you and Patrick? I could never leave if I knew that you had been tumbled out into the streets because of me!"

"Don't worry about us. The only thing I want for you to worry about is getting to America unharmed and finding your father. Besides, at the rate they are casting us all out of our houses we would be out in a week, even with you here!"

"But mother! If I married Boyd maybe we would be able to keep the house."

"What and lose my only daughter! I don't think so! I love you to death dear but you are going whether you like it or not! Father O'Neil has given me some of the church's funds so you can afford a steerage ticket. Ahhh, now don't look so glum. This is a blessing! You are lucky to be going to America and even luckier to have family there!"

Anne nodded her head solemnly, "Does father know that I am coming?" She would feel strange showing up on the doorstep of the father that she hadn't seen in 3 years.

"No, he wouldn't receive the letter declaring your arrival until after you got there, so I am afraid that you will have to surprise him. Don't worry Anne, he's your father he will be thrilled to have you stay with him."

Anne nodded again and looked up. She looked at her mother's face and her eyes watered as it dawned on her that she may not see her mother for a long time. A very long time. She glanced over to the straw mat on the floor to where her little brother Patrick slept. Dear Patrick who was always cheering her up and bringing her blossoms after he played in the hills. She wouldn't be there to watch him grow up. Anne swallowed the tears that she refused to let fall. That was the last time that she would be in a room with both her mother and her brother. She left that night. The dark cloaking her, allowing her to travel unnoticed, the long road to Dublin where she purchased a steamer ticket.

She thought of these things now as she sat on the cold, damp floor of the steerage. She had left home over 2 months ago but her final moments there were still as vivid as if she had left 2 minutes ago. She clutched the small brass cross she always wore around her neck and said a silent prayer. She would be arriving in Brooklyn soon. Her life would be starting anew soon.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One-Spot  
**

Spot entered Mcafferty's Boarding House exhausted after a long day selling papers, among other businesses. Being the leader of Brooklyn wasn't all fun and games you know. It was actually a very stressful job. Making sure that no one was scoping out your territory, or ganging up on your men, or trying to steal your customers. There was also a great amount of violence that came along with the job. Spot was sure that he always had his trusty sling shot with him, just in case.

Though the job came along with a great deal of respect and admiration, Spot was very lonely. He had friends, friends who would gladly give their lives for him and him for them. But he had no one to talk to. No one to confide in. He wanted, no needed, a friend who was around him because he was Spot, not because he was Spot Conlon, owner of Brooklyn. He had, had a friend like that. One of the men in the Boarding House had been like a father to him.

He treated Spot as he would have his own children, complementing him on his paper selling skills and scolding him whenever he came in late. He had spoken constantly of his family back home in Ireland. So much that Spot actually thought of himself as a member. He had really liked that idea.

Sadly though that man was no longer there. He had been a trolley worker. One who refused to join the strike. He said it was because he could never abandon his family. They desperately needed the money. Spot admired him for that, putting his family before his reputation. Unfortunately the trolley workers didn't admire his refusal to strike. They killed him while he passed their line.

Spot was still trying to compose a letter to send back to the poor man's family. He wasn't to good with words and rather that send them news of his death he had continued to wire his own money to that poor family in Ireland. That poor family that deep down he knew he should be a part of.

Shaking this sadness away Spot raised his hand as a greeting to his friends and slumped down in the chair by the corner. There he began to doze off. He was awakened about a half an hour later by a girl's voice. It sounded Irish. Spot looked up to see a girl of about 16 standing next to old Macaffterty. She appeared to be inquiring about a room or something. She was of average height and build. Her face was rather average too, it was just her eyes that drawn him in. They were the deepest green that he had ever seen.

Though he had never seen the girl before she looked so familiar.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2-Anne**

Anne stepped off of the dock, and tied her shawl as tight around her as she could. It was dark. And cold. Anne had heard stories about how it was dangerous for young girls to be alone in the city. Especially at night. All she had was a letter with her father's address on it and a few bits from the church. Anne stepped out from the dark and under a streetlamp. There she could get a good look around. The street she was on was deserted and silent except for the rowdy noises coming from inside the buildings. One of the doors to the buildings opened and a man who appeared to be drunk stepped out.

He spotted Anne and in a very slurred speech said, "Aye, pretty miss, you seem to be lost. Here let me take you home with me. I'll take good care of you." The man took several steps towards Anne. In her innocent naivety she didn't know what was going on.

"Thank you sir, but I already have a place to go. Can you tell me how to get to this place here?" Anne held her hand out with the paper. The man grabbed the paper…and her wrist. He tried to pull her towards him. Anne could smell the strong scent of whiskey on the man. She knew that she was in trouble.

Using all of the strength that she could muster up she transferred all of her weight onto her foot and stepped on the man's foot. Then she pulled her wrist away, making sure to pull towards his thumb. The man cried in pain and let go of her. The second he let go she bolted. She ran down streets and alleyways afraid to stop for fear that he was following her. Once she was far enough away and out of breath she stopped. She leaned against the brick wall of the building behind her and caught her breath.

"Anne, you blockhead!" she scolded herself, "You aren't in Ireland anymore! People here are different. There is no one here you can trust except father. Father!" At the thought of her father Anne remembered with horror the letter that said her father's address on it. She had left it with the horrible man when she had fled. Anne put her head in her hands and wept. She was lost.

After about 20 minutes of feeling sorry for herself Anne decided that she had to do something. It was getting colder every minute. She tried to remember the way her father had described the city in his letters. The letters that she had read over and over again, trying to envision herself there with him. Now she was here. She just had to find him. She looked up at the Inn sign that hung over the door of the building she leaned against. The Rusty Lock. The name rang a bell in her memory. Father had taken breakfast here on his first day in the city!

That must mean that his boarding house is somewhere around here! Her sprits lifting Anne gathered her things and left the dark alley stepping in to the warm lights of the street. She began to walk straight and looked at every building until she came upon it. Mcafferty's Boarding. Never had she been so happy to see a Boarding House in all of her life. Little did she know that hr happiness would be shattered.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4-Anne and Spot Anne 

Anne stood at the entrance of the Boarding House unsure of whether she wanted to enter or not. She felt like kicking herself. "You have come this far," she yelled at herself in her mind, "if you back out now what is to become of you?"

Taking a deep breath and regaining composure, Anne raised her hand to knock on the door but stopped. "Do you have to knock on the door of a Boarding House?" she thought to herself, "Oh well!" And with that she turned the doorknob and opened the door. Her heart raced as she stuck her head inside and looked around. She saw many boys around her age but no one of her father's age. She could feel her legs starting to turn to jelly when she took a deep breath and stepped all the way inside. All eyes were on her. All eyes except for those of one young man who slept soundly on a chair.

The panicky feeling started to rise again in her throat and chest when she spotted a elderly man standing behind a desk. She approached him.

"Excuse me sir," she began, "I'm looking for my father. His letters stated that he was a resident here at your Boarding House."

"What was his name?" the owner asked gruffly.

"Arthur. Arthur O'Connell." Anne asked eagerly.

**Spot **

At the mention of his dear friend's name Spot sat upright. He looked at girl's face. Hopeful and eager. He looked down. He didn't want to have to watch her face when she heard the news.

**Anne**

"Aye, lassie. I guess you never got the news. Mr. O'Connell has been dead these last couple months. Killed in the Trolley Strike he was.

"Sir, there must be some mistake. Why, we received money from my father right before I left Ireland." Anne could feel a giant lump forming in her throat. Every last bit of hope she had was leaving her.

"Well, I don't now anything about that but it sure wasn't your father sending the money. Besides, all of his possessions were claimed by the Trolley workers. As you can see Miss, there is nothing I can do to help you." The owner said, waving his hand dismissing her.

Anne's eyes welled with tears but she wouldn't let them fall. Her mind was sent on a journey of mourning. Remembering her father, when she was a baby and he would toss her into the air. When she was a girl and she would ride to town on his shoulders. The day he left for America. So many happy and sad memories, they were all she had left of him.

Anne was not going to let herself get lost in the whirlwind of emotions though. She needed to keep a clear head. She needed to form a plan of what she was going to do next, where she was going to go, what she-Her thoughts were interrupted by a sob. Brought back to reality she was shocked to find that the cry came from herself. Now it was sure that all of the eyes in the room were on her. She turned quickly and fled from the Boarding House.

**Spot **

Watching the girl's sorrow reminded Spot of his own and it was all he could do to keep himself from crying. He had an image to uphold. Spot didn't know why but he felt responsible for the girl's tears. By sending them money he had provided them with false hope.

Why should I care, he thought. I don't even know the girl. So what if I knew her father. Spot felt guilty immediately after saying that. He knew it wasn't true. He couldn't just let her run out into the night like that. She could get hurt. Standing up and grabbing his hat, he followed her out into the night.  
He searched and searched up and down every alleyway but he saw no sign of her. For a second he felt as though he had dreamed the girl up in his loneliness. But deep down he knew that that wasn't true. He wouldn't be able to imagine such sorrow as that that he had seen in the girl's eyes. And with that thought he turned back to the Boarding House with a heavy heart and a sense of failure.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5-Anne and Spot 

**Anne**

The sum fell in rays upon Anne's sleeping form. She opened her eyes and squinted at the light. She turned her head to look at where she was. The night before had seemed like a dream. More like a nightmare actually. She leaned her head against the dumpster that she had slept next to. Judging by the smell she had slept behind a fish market. "What would mother say?" she thought to her self, "if she saw me here sleeping next to a dumpster like a tramp."

She heard noises coming from the end of the alley where the main streets started. These noises weren't threatening like the sounds of the night before. They were the warm inviting cries of the Newsies off carryin the banner. Anne stood up, brushed herself off and headed for the main street.

Spot

Spot was up before dawn. He hadn't actually slept at all so it was quite easy for him to get out of bed. All night his mind had been filled with thoughts of the girl. The girl that he didn't even know. The girl that he had been in love with for months.

Spot hated to admit it to himself but he had been quite taken with "Little Annie" as her father had called her since the first time her father had mentioned her. He had loved to hear about her. About the time she went missing only to be fond dozing under a willow tree. And about how she was constantly bringing home stray animals. His favorite story was the one about the time a male childhood friend had tried to kiss her and she pushed him in the river. If that bloke ever tried to kiss her again Spot was ready to do a lot more than just push him in the river. Either way he would get soaked.

Spot told himself that he was a fool. He didn't even know the girl. He was just lonely. Than why when he saw her last night did his heart skip a beat and why was he out until all hours of the night trying to find her? Pushing these thoughts Spot grabbed his hat and went to buy some papes.

After he bought his 100 papes Spot began to sell. All the while keeping an eye open for the girl. After finding no sign of her he turned to go get something to eat when someone bumped into him.

"WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING! YOU HEAR ME OR DO I HAVE TO MAKE YOU HEAR ME?" Spot yelled.

**Anne**

For a moment Anne almost forgot her troubles as she made her way down Main Street. The city was so alive, bustling with people just trying to scratch out a living. Anne gazed at all of the shop windows and at all of the stands at the market. She was so entranced that she wasn't watching where she was going.

"WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING! YOU HEAR ME OR DO I HAVE TO MAKE YOU HEAR ME?" the young man she bumped into shouted.

"Excuse me," Anne said hotly, "I wasn't watching where I was going and for that I apologize but that doesn't give you any right to shout at me about it." Her voice rose, "And I am usually very temperamental but I am in no mood to put up with scoundrels like you…" she was interrupted by the sudden grin that came across the young man's face.

"ANNIE?" the young man asked joyfully, "Is that really you?"

Anne took a step away confused and a little frightened. "Who are you?" she asked suspiciously, "the only person who has ever called me Annie is my father…and he's" Anne's voice trailed off.

The young man's face turned a bright shade of crimson. "I'm sorry," he said, "My name is Spot. I was a friend of your father's from the Boarding House. I didn't mean ton alarm you."

**Spot**

Great going Spot, he thought to himself. The first chance you get to speak with her and she is afraid of you! Spot felt like kicking himself but Anne didn't give him a chance.

"You knew my father?" Anne asked sadly.

"Yes he was like a father to me myself. Hey, I was just going to go get something to eat and you look kind of hungry so how about you come along and I can answer and questions you might have. We were pretty close." Spot looked at Anne's face and watched as her expression changed. It wasn't sadness, or anger, or happiness, it was jealously. She jealous of me, he thought. Then the expression changed again only this time she tried her best to smile. It came out weak, forced. Spot could see the sadness in her eyes. She nodded and they made their way to the diner.


	6. Chapter 6

  
Authors Note: Hey everybody! Thanks for the Reviews! It means a lot! 

Chapter 6-Anne and Spot

**Anne**

The boy wrapped his hand around Anne's wrist and gently and quickly led her through the cities winding streets to a small diner. He pushed the door open like he owned the place and led them inside.

Once inside, several young men greeted her and the young man, whose name she now knew was Spot. Several of them approached Spot and asked him how the heck he found such a pretty girl as her. Anne didn't like the way they all assumed that she was Spot's girl. She was kind of glad about it though. If they thought that she was his girl maybe they would leave her alone. She was wrong.

**Spot**

Spot knew that bringing the girl to the diner would be a bad idea but he had been too dense to realize it when they were out on the street. He had gotten so wrapped up in finding Anne that he had forgotten that they were still in Brooklyn. And being the leader of Brooklyn people were bound to talk about him.

He tried to ignore the fellows as they teased him about Anne. If only what they said about Spot finally having a girl was true. He watched as she blushed and took a step away from him, only to take a step again towards him when one of the other young men approached her.

"Awww, you're too pretty to be hanging around the likes of Spot. Why don't you ditch this weasel and come hang with a real man?" a fellow Newsie asked as he tried to grab Anne's arm.

"Get out of here Rat Face and leave the girl alone before I soak you!" Spot shoved Rat Face back and stood in front of Anne protectively.

"Fine," Rat Face said irritated, "Gosh Spot, I was only foolin around. Since when were you so serious?"

Spot took Anne by the arm and led her to a booth in the back. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically, "Rat Face over there doesn't have enough brains in him to when to leave things alone. He's like that with everything."

Anne nodded her head slowly in understanding. They were silent for a moment both at a loss for words. Finally it was Anne who broke the silence.

"What was my father like?" Anne asked. Spot looked taken aback.

"Well, you would know him better than I did. He was your father." Spot wanted to be able to answer her questions but he wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to offend her at all. That was the last thing he wanted.

"I hadn't seen him for three years. And a person can change a lot in three years. What was he like when you knew him?" Anne asked with questioning eyes.

"Well, he was one of the best men I hope to ever meet in my life. I still remember the day he came to the Boarding House. He bumped into me like you did and I will admit that I gave him a bit of attitude, just like I gave you. He didn't just sit back and take it either. I think the two of you had a lot in common." Anne smiled at that, "Anyway, that day he scolded me about respect and how I wouldn't get anywhere in life with that attitude. He taught me a lot and was the dearest friend and father that I had ever had." Anne smiled a sad but content smile. Then she asked a harder question.

"How did he die?"

"Well, over in Manhattan where he worked as a trolley worker there was a big trolley strike going on. They weren't paying the workers as much as they deserved so a lot of them stopped working and started forming picket lines and stuff. Your father supported the strikers but he wouldn't join them, so they killed him as he tried to cross the picket line." At this Anne looked down.

"He wouldn't join them because he had to send money home right?" Anne asked even though she already knew the answer.

Spot nodded sadly, "It wasn't your fault and your father wouldn't want for you to blame yourself," he took a breath as if to say something else but was interrupted.

"Do you know where my father is buried?" Anne asked quietly.

"Of course."

"Can you take me there?"

Without a word Spot stood up took her wrist and led her from the Diner.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7-Anne 

**Anne**

Anne followed Spot her heart racing, not from how fast they were walking but by where they were going. This would be the closet she had been to her father in three years. It was the closest she would ever be now. They traveled quickly through the crowds until they came to a small cemetery next to a brick Protestant church. Spot didn't need to lead Anne to her father's grave. She just kind of wandered in herself and found it. She kneeled in front of the stone and traced her fingers along the engravings. The stone read, "Arthur O'Connell, beloved husband, father, and friend.

"Did you do this?" Anne asked pointing to the engraving and the flowers in front of the grave.

Spot nodded sheepishly, "It was the least I could do, he was a wonderful man. I just figured he must be just as good of a father and husband."

"Oh my goodness!" Anne exclaimed, "I am going to have to tell mother about all of this! I completely forgot. She must think that I am safe in America with father. What if she makes me come home?"

"Well, do you want to go home? Spot asked shyly, he didn't want for her to want to go home.

"Well, no, well I do want to see mother and Patrick but if I go home I shall have to marry that awful Boyd. And there is hardly any food back home, if I returned home I would just be a burden. But I can't possibly stay here. I have nowhere to go." Anne was having a hard time making up her mind.

"Well, I could help you get a job at one of the mills around here," once again being the leader of Brooklyn had it's advantages, "you could stay in one the lodging houses. Then you could continue to send money over to your family. Eventually they could join you here. Until then you could stay at my place."

The idea made sense to Anne but still she hesitated. She hardly knew this man and staying at his place wouldn't be proper. Then again, he seemed like a good enough fellow and he had been a friend of her father's. She counted her father as a very good judge of character. And it was only one night and it was only because she had no place else to go. Finally Anne nodded her head and followed him back to the Boarding house.

Author's Note: Hey everybody! Thanks for all of the great reviews! Sorry I haven' been able to update in a bit but the dumb site wouldn't let me log in! Sorry I know this chapter is really short but I'll try to make the next one longer! Thanks again! SUMMER COME SOON! 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8-Anne and Spot Anne 

Anne entered the Boarding House after Spot and much to her dismay was met with the gazes of his fellow Newsies. She didn't want them to assume that just because she was staying the night in his room that she was easy or cheap or even that she wasn't a virgin. She didn't want to get a reputation.

"Spot," she said shyly, "Can we go back outside for a moment?"

"Umm…sure," Spot said confused.

Anne grabbed Spot's wrist and pulled him back outside.

"I don't want for your friends to think that I am staying in your room with you." Anne stated quite clearly.

"Well, you are staying with me at my room." Spot said rather bewildered, he would never understand women.

"Well, I'm not staying, staying like they would believe that I was staying. And you know that and I know that but they don't. I don't want them making assumptions about me. I have to protect my reputation." Anne said helplessly.

Now Spot knew a lot about reputation and he knew how his fellow Newsies treated girls with that reputation. For Anne's own protection he had to get her into his room unnoticed.

"Okay," he said after a moment of thinking, "Here's what we are going to do. We are going to go inside, I am going to wish you a goodnight in front of everybody and then you are going to go outside while I go up to my room. Once you are outside I want for you to go around they building to the fire escape. Then I will come to my window and lower the ladder down to you. Understand?"

Anne nodded and the plan went underway. She followed Spot back inside and he made a big show of telling her goodbye. Then she went back outside and went to the fire escape. It was very dark outside and she heard voices shouting all around her, coming from inside the taverns and such. Luckily though Spot appeared at a window above the fireplace before she had a chance to become frightened.

He lowered the ladder and making sure that nobody was watching she climbed up the ladder and entered through his window.

Little did they know though that someone was watching.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Rat Face 

Rat Face crouched next to a dumpster and watched as Spot helped Anne into his room. Typical, he thought. Spot always got the prettiest girls to go with him, even though they all meant nothing to him. Why did they all think that he was so great? Then the answer struck him. He was the leader of Brooklyn of course. He hated Spot. He hated the way he always smirked even when nothing was funny. He hated the way he carried his cane around as if he were a king and it were his scepter. But most of all he hated how people respected Spot.

He watched Spot's face as he helped the girl hop the ledge into his room. It reflected something other than the normal hollowness and toughness that he used around everyone else. He looked almost happy, with a light in his eyes and a real smile upon his lips.

And slowly, very slowly Rat Face began to develop a plan that would break Spot and put him in his place as leader of Brooklyn. All he needed was the girl.

Spot 

Spot couldn't sleep. And no it wasn't because he was propped up on a wooden chair. Being a gentleman he let Anne take his bed. He couldn't sleep because he was just quiet enough he could almost make out the soft warm sound of Anne breathing. For once in his life the emptiness that consumed every night was filled. He was elated.

Anne 

Unlike Spot Anne slept fitfully for the first time since she left Ireland. For the first time she felt safe and that things could work out.

The next morning Anne awoke at dawn to find Spot asleep in his chair. She realized that sleeping in that thing must have been very uncomfortable. She decided that she would fix him breakfast as a thank you but she could see that he didn't have a food supply. He lived out of restaurants. Seeing that there was basically nothing she could do until he woke up she made the bed. Then noticing a small pile of clothes wadded under it she went to find the laundry room.

On her way to finding the laundry room she was met by an unfriendly face.

"What? Now he has his woman doing his laundry too?" Rat Face sneered as he grabbed the basket from Anne.

"I have no idea what you are talking about but could I please have my basket back" Anne said trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I am talking about. I just thought that I should let you know that Spot brings a different girl home everyday of the week but none of them ever mean anything. You'll be back on the street looking for another customer tonight. So why don't you come with me. I'll treat you like a queen."

"What are you talking about? Are you assuming that just because I may have spent the night in Spot's room that I am a tramp? I can assure you that nothing of that nature happened last night or any night. And I don't appreciate having people I don't even know make assumptions about me when they absolutely nothing about me!"

"Wait, so you are saying that you and Spot are actually friends?" Rat Face smiled this was getting even better.

"I suppose, yes. Why do you care anyway?" Anne took a step back she wasn't sure where this was going.

"Oh no reason. I'm just interested in the welfare of our fine leader of Brooklyn." At this he walked away, a cruel smirk on his face.

Anne just stood there for a moment confused. That was the same Newsie that she had met at the diner, but who was he? And who was the leader of Brooklyn?


End file.
